


take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while

by lettersfromnowhere



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Starmora Week, Starmora Week 2018, day 1: summer trip, sort of a deleted scene from the Mantis 5+1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-06-23 05:25:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15599259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lettersfromnowhere/pseuds/lettersfromnowhere
Summary: “‘She’s like an eel,’ Peter whined. ‘She just slips away. It’s not like I didn’t try to keep tabs on her.’‘I don’t know what an eel is, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t that difficult to keep track of Mantis,’ Gamora chastised. ‘At this point I’d think you’d expect it.’Scanning through a list of times they’d lost Mantis on an unfamiliar planet in the last year, Peter realized that this was an excellent point, but he wasn’t about to concede that it had been his fault.”OR: Mantis attempts to sightsee, the team loses track of her, and panic ensues.





	take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while

**Author's Note:**

> If any of you have read that Mantis 5+1 I wrote a while back, you might remember the bit about her love of exploring unfamiliar planets. This is an extension of that idea to go with the "Summer Trip" prompt for day 1 of Starmora Week. Not as shippy as I intended, sadly, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. :)

 

“You _know_ she always wanders off!” Gamora shook her head in indignation. “I thought we’d agreed-“

 

“She’s like an eel,” Peter whined. “She just slips away. It’s not like I didn’t _try_ to keep tabs on her.”

 

“I don’t know what an eel is, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t that difficult to keep track of Mantis,” Gamora chastised. “At this point I’d think you’d expect it.”

 

Scanning through a list of times they’d lost Mantis on an unfamiliar planet in the last year, Peter realized that this was an excellent point, but he wasn’t about to concede that it had been his fault. “Didn’t we send Drax to watch her? It wasn’t even my responsibility to know where she was.”

 

“It’s _Drax,_ Peter,” Gamora sighed. “He wasn’t ever going to keep her from wandering off.”

 

“Then why’d we send him?!?”

 

“ _We_ didn’t do anything. _You_ wanted to ‘delegate responsibility,’” Gamora said.

 

“Okay, you can’t deny that that getting chased halfway out of town after that dude caught us making out behind his fruit stall was worth it,” Peter shot back. His face fell slightly. “It…was, right?”

 

“Memorable? Amusing? Yes,” Gamora agreed, her lip twitching slightly into a smile. “But worth losing track of Mantis _again?_ Doubtful.”

 

“Disappointing,” Peter said, petulantly stubbing at the ground with the toe of his boot. “I thought you might appreciate some alone time.”

 

“Yes, but I’d prefer that our alone time didn’t endanger our teammates,” Gamora sighed.

 

“Oh, please. She’s _fine,”_ Peter insisted. “What could happen to her on Ilystia, of all places? _”_

 

“She has no idea where she’s going, Peter,” Gamora snapped. “She’s probably totally lost, and nothing good ever comes of that.”

 

“Crime rates are at a historic low in this city, y’know,” Peter said, casually tossing a piece of fruit he’d bought at the stand before they’d been chased off up and down.

 

“You’re making that up,” Gamora sighed.

 

“I am making that up,” Peter admitted.

 

“Try to get in touch with Rocket. He might know more than we do,” Gamora instructed wearily, sighing. “The messes you get us into, Peter…”

 

* * *

 

 

Wrapped in an orange shawl of a traditional Ilystian cloth somewhere between velvet and wool, Mantis blinked guiltily at her teammates, their eyes fixed on her accusingly. They surrounded her in the common room, scrutinizing her bedraggled appearance – her hair was dripping wet and twin smudges of crimson had been swiped across her cheeks.

 

“I’m sorry I wandered away again,” she said, staring at the floor remorsefully. “I did not mean to cause you distress.”

 

“You were supposed to stay with _me,”_ Drax said emphatically, sounding rather wounded at the implication that she’d rather be somewhere he wasn’t.

 

“How’d you get lost, Mantis?” Peter asked gently, fixing Drax with a sidelong _dude, shut up_ glare.

 

“Drax was in a shop that sold knives, and I did not want anything there, so I went into a shop across the street. It sold seasonings, and the aromas were intriguing, and they were…colorful,” Mantis admitted guiltily. “I had to go look at them. And then when I came back to the knife store, Drax was gone.”

 

“Dude!” Peter snapped. “Why’d you leave? How was she supposed to find you?”

 

“I did not realize she was gone until much later,” Drax replied matter-of-factly. “It is not as if she talks much.”

 

“She never shuts up,” Rocket countered. “Only reason she wasn’t talking’s ‘cause ya bored her to death. Duh.”

 

“It was a knife shop!” Drax protested. “How could she have been _bored?”_

“That all aside, why is your hair wet, Mantis?” Gamora interrupted. “And what’s with the face paint?”

 

“Oh, right.” Mantis reached up to wring out her soaked hair. “After I couldn’t find Drax, I went to look for him, but then I found another shop that sold these blankets” – she held out a corner of her orange wrap – “and I went in to look.”

 

“And?” Gamora prompted.

 

“Apparently they are a part of an Ilystian social custom. Some sort of holiday,” Mantis explained. “I bought one and wrapped it around myself to keep warm, and when some people in the street saw me wearing it, they…threw water on me.”

 

“Real traumatizin’,” Rocket scoffed.

 

“Rocket,” Gamora warned. He shook his head disgustedly.  

 

“Then some others came up to me with a bowl of red powder and asked if I wanted some,” she continued. “I didn’t know what it was, but they put it on me anyway.” She rubbed at her cheek; some of the powder flaked off in her hand.

 

“So…you wound up accidentally celebrating a holiday you’ve never heard of?” Peter asked. She nodded. “See, Drax? _This_ is why we can’t let her wander off!”

 

“I like to see new places,” Mantis protested. “It is all right.”

 

“But it gives us a small heart attack every time we have to come find you,” Peter countered.

 

“Go dry off,” Gamora sighed. “We can finish discussing this later.”

 

* * *

 

 

“She seems fine on her own, you know.”

 

Gamora sighed. “Peter…”

 

“I know, I know. But nothing bad ever happens, and she’d never even left her own planet until, like, what, two years ago? And I’m sure she wants to see stuff,” Peter argued.

 

“I would feel more comfortable with her exploring and whatnot if she were chaperoned,” Gamora said reluctantly.

 

“She’s not a kid, Gamora,” Peter replied. “She can take care of herself. Sure, she might end up a little bit traumatized by pedestrians throwing water at her or whatever, but she’s always fine.”

 

“I suppose,” Gamora acquiesced.

 

Peter rested his chin on her shoulder. “Right as usual,” he muttered.

 

“As usual? Hardly,” Gamora scoffed, mock-offended. He wrapped his arms loosely around her waist; she rolled her eyes for show but leaned into his embrace.

 

“We usually land on our feet,” he thought aloud. “Don’t get too caught up in trying to make sure everything goes perfectly.”

  
“Peter, that is my _specialty,”_ Gamora teased.

 

“Yeah, but mistakes make the best memories,” Peter protested. “Like today? We’re never gonna forget running from the owner of that fruit stand. Mantis is probably going to remember accidentally celebrating some weird Ilystian holiday forever, you know?”

 

“You are a relentless sap.”

 

“And you love it,” Peter insisted.

 

“Maybe I do.”

 

 


End file.
